Never Judge A Book By It's Cover
by xEvillAngell
Summary: AU. Fifteen-year-old Sakura Haruno moves to a new school. She meets new friends, new enemies, and tries to forget her past. But some things just refuse to be forgotten. GaaraxSakura
1. Chapter 1

Hello! This is my first fanfiction, soooo… yeah. Bear with me, I'm not that good at the moment! ^.^''

I haven't actually watched very much of Naruto, so I don't know the character's personalities very well. Sorry if they are out of character. I'll try my best :)

And also, I don't speak Japanese very well, as I'm from Australia, so sorry if I misspell anything or if I add the wrong suffix to someone's name!

Oh and it's AU by the way. ^.^

- Michi-chan

* * *

Sixteen-year-old Haruno Sakura ran a hand through her bubblegum pink, shoulder-length hair.

"Hello, school number seven," she murmured under her breath, looking up through emerald green eyes at the large, redbrick school that seemed to loom over her like an ominous cloud.

She straightened her skirt and followed the crowd of teenagers surging through the front doors. As she entered inside the throng of people either turned left, turned right, or stood around chatting. Sakura noticed the large OFFICE sign nailed onto the wall opposite her. She quickly navigated her way through the crowd lithely and took a hold of the office doorknob like it was a lifeline.

Quickly stepping inside, she sighed in relief as she was separated from the large group of people who were, most likely, gawking at her bright pink hair.

She greeted the quiet atmosphere of the office gladly, before stepping towards the desk. The lady sitting there looked up at her and smiled.

"Hello, how can I help you?" she asked. Sakura looked at her nametag, which read 'SHIZUNE'.

"Ohayo, Shizune-san. I'm Haruno Sakura, I'm new." Sakura spoke.

"Oh! Sakura-san! We've been expecting you. Hang on, I'll print off the things you need now." Shizune turned to the computer and began printing off some papers.

"Okay, here's a map of the school, your subjects and just some basic information that you should know," Shizune said, handing her the papers.

"Arigatou, Shizune-san. Sayonara!" Sakura turned and headed back out the door, immediately pressing herself against the wall as to avoid as much of the crowd as possible.

_The last thing I want to do is knock someone and get them mad, and then if they're popular everyone will hate me, and then I'll be a loner and school will suck (not that it already does), all in one day! _Sakura thought to herself.

The bell rang loudly and the students began dispersing into their respective classrooms. Sakura hurriedly looked down at her timetable.

"English with Kakashi-sensei, room 404," she murmured to herself, shuffling the papers so that the map was on top.

_Okay, so I take a left here… go up these stairs… turn left again… damnit where is room 404?! _Sakura screamed mentally.

She noticed that the crowd had disappeared.

"Oh, crap…" she muttered. "Seriously, how goddamn hard is it to get to room 404?!"

Sakura studied the map intently, walking quickly. She turned a left, and crashed into something – rather, someone.

She fell back – _Curse my clumsiness! _– and landed on the floor.

"Fuck," she swore under her breath, before realizing someone was there.

"Oh, crap, I just swore. Shit, I did it again! Fu- fudge!" she said, now blushing madly. She got up and quickly bowed to the person. "Gomenasai, it's just, I'm new, I can't find my way to room 404, and I'm getting frustrated, and when I get frustrated I swear a lot, and – oh shit, I'm rambling. And I just swore again. Gomen!" she bowed again.

The boy said nothing. Sakura looked up at him and he was smirking. He had blood red hair, and green eyes, much like her own. The kanji for love was tattooed on his forehead.

"C'mon, I have that class too," he spoke, before turning around and walking off.

"Oh!" Sakura ran to catch up to him.

"I'm Haruno Sakura, by the way," she told him.

"Sabaku no Gaara," he replied.

"Nice to meet you, Gaara-san." She said politely.

He said nothing. Sakura figured that he wasn't much of a talker. Finally they got to their designation – room 404.

"Arigatou, Gaara-san," Sakura bowed again.

"Hn," he replied, and turned to walk off.

"Wait! Aren't – aren't you going to go inside?" she called out.

"Kakashi is always late. He won't be there for another fifteen minutes minimum," he spoke without turning around.

"Oh," Sakura murmured. She took a deep breath and opened the door.

The class was running rampant. They were all yelling, running around and throwing things. One boy with spiky blonde hair was jumping from desk to desk yelling loudly.

Fortunately, no one seemed to notice her entrance. She quietly slipped into a vacant seat at the back of the classroom.

Suddenly someone slammed their hands down onto her desk and she jumped, looking up. It was the blonde boy that had been jumping on the desks.

"Hi! I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Believe it! Are you new? Is your hair naturally pink? Where did you move from? How do you like the school? Is-"

A girl thwacked him over the head. "Quiet, Naruto!" she scolded. "You'll scare the poor girl!"

The girl had long blonde hair, part of it covering one of her eyes, the rest tied up. She smiled at Sakura.

"Sorry about that. I'm Yamanaka Ino, and this baka here is Naruto," she grinned, taking a seat by Sakura.

"Oh okay, I'm Haruno Sakura," she replied, smiling.

"So, you're new, eh? How's the school going for ya?" Ino asked as Naruto ran off to go do something else stupid (A/N I have nothing against Naruto, I just love it when he does random stupid things! :D)

"Yeah, it's okay. I got lost looking for this class though, but Gaara-san showed me where to go," Sakura replied. Ino stared at her, mouth agape.

"Sabaku no Gaara?"

"Yeah… why?"

"Sakura," Ino said, looking serious. "Gaara… isn't someone you want to make friends with. He's… he's dangerous."

Sakura looked at her confusedly. "He seemed nice to me…"

Ino shook her head hurriedly. "Please, Sakura. I like you, you're nice. Don't go near him, okay?"

Sakura looked down. "Okay…"

Ino brightened up and changed the subject. "Anyway! Can I see your timetable?"

"Sure, here," Sakura realized she was still clutching her papers in her hand and gave Ino her timetable.

**PERIOD 1 – English: Kakashi-Sensei (Room 404)**** –Mixed class of grades 10 and 11-**

"You have that with me, obviously," Ino grinned. "Tenten too, but she isn't here yet."

**PERIOD 2 – Mathematics: Genma-Sensei (Room 612)**

"I have that too, and so does Shikamaru," Ino commented.

**BREAK**

"I'll introduce you to the gang at break, okay? Well, except for Tenten, 'cause you two will meet in soon," Ino grinned at Sakura again.

**PERIOD 3 & 4 – Gym: Gai Sensei (Gym)**** –Mixed class of grades 10 and 11-**

**LUNCH**

"Hinata has Gym, so does Temari. Temari is a year older then us, but it's a mixed class. Oh and Lee, he's kinda weird but that's how we like him."

**PERIOD 5 – Society and Environment: Kurenai-Sensei (Room 802)**

**PERIOD 6 – Science: Orochimaru-Sensei (Room 107)**

"Tenten and Hinata have Society and Environment, and me and Shikamaru have science. There ya go, you know at least one person in each class!" Ino handed her timetable back.

"Arigato, Ino. You're really nice," Sakura replied, grinning widely.

"I know I am!" Ino replied, and they both laughed.

A girl with brunette hair tied up in two buns came up to the two girls.

"Hey Ino! Hey… ?" Tenten trailed off, not knowing Sakura's name.

"Oh! Haruno Sakura. You must be Tenten?" Sakura smiled timidly.

"Yup, that's me! Ino told you, eh? She better have been saying good things about me!" Tenten joked as she took a seat next to Ino.

Ino slung an arm around Tenten's shoulders. "Course I was! When do I say bad things about anyone?"

"All the time," Tenten retorted. Sakura laughed softly.

Suddenly the door slammed open loudly. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at the door, deathly quiet. Gaara walked in, glaring at everyone. He glanced briefly at Sakura and she looked away quickly.

"What the hell are you all staring at?" He growled, taking a seat next to a boy with black hair, the back of it eerily resembling a duck's behind. Sakura noticed that Naruto was sitting next to duck-butt too.

Ino leant over to her. "See what I mean? He's not the nicest person ever. Him, Sasuke, Naruto and Neji are pretty much the leaders of this school. They get what they want, when they want. Well, except for Naruto, he's nice. But he's Sasuke's best friend, so he hangs out with him."

"Oh…" Sakura said quietly. She'd thought Gaara was nice, but obviously she was wrong.

She noticed a group of girls sitting behind the three boys giggling and throwing notes at them. She raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, that's their fanclub. Yeah, they have a fanclub," Tenten rolled her eyes.

Sakura laughed, then looked up as a girl stood in front of her desk, her arms crossed. She had red hair and glasses, and her skirt was so short it could have been worn as a belt. Her hair was ragged on one side, Sakura thought it looked really strange.

"Who are you?" she sneered.

"I'm Haruno Sakura," Sakura replied coldly; she didn't like this girl.

"Well, _Pinky_, I suggest that you stay away from Sasuke-kun. He's mine."

Sakura growled at the word Pinky. Oh God how she hated that word. She stood up, and glared at the girl.

"_Pinky_? That coming from the girl with the hair that looks like it lost a fight with a lawn mower?" Sakura hissed. By now everyone was staring at them, but she didn't care. No one called her Pinky. Except for one person, but…

"Listen, bitch," the girl spoke in her nasally voice. "You don't have the right to say that to me. I could get you beaten up easily."

Sakura smirked. _Yeah, right._

Suddenly Tenten and Ino were on their feet, too.

"You really want to try that?" Tenten growled, having a stare down with the girl.

Redhead kept her glare up for a few seconds, but then faltered. She snorted and walked to her fanclub group.

The three girls grinned to each other and sat back down.

"Wow, Sakura, I thought that you were all shy and stuff. But that proves me wrong!" Ino laughed.

"Heh, I guess so. I don't take shit from anyone, that's all."

The door opened again. This time a middle-aged man walked in. He was wearing a scarf that covered his mouth and nose, and spiky grey hair.

"Yo," he said. "Sorry I'm late. You see, there was this pineapple-"

Suddenly Naruto was on the desk, pointing a finger that seemed to shoot daggers at Kakashi.

"LIES!" Naruto yelled loudly. Sakura giggled, Naruto seemed to be the funny one of the "Popular Four". She liked him.

"Naruto, sit down. Today, class, we're going to learn about…"

xxx

Sakura stretched happily as she stepped out of the Gym into the fresh air, devoid of the stench of sweat. She walked with Temari, Lee and Hinata, who she'd met at break. They walked to the usual spot where they all met up.

"So, Sakura," Temari started. "I've been wanting to ask you, but y'know, don't take offense or anything. Is your hair naturally pink?"

"Heh, yeah, it is. I guess it's a genetic malfunction or something," Sakura grinned.

"I think it is a very beautiful colour for a very beautiful girl!" Lee cried.

"Ehh… thanks?" Sakura replied, confused. Temari laughed, and Hinata giggled softly.

Eventually they got to the meeting place, which was a bench underneath a big evergreen tree. Everyone was already there – Ino, Tenten, Shikamaru, Choji, Temari's brother Kankuro, and now Sakura, Temari, Hinata and Lee.

Sakura took a seat on the grass, next to Ino. But as soon as she sat down, she heard that annoying voice behind her.

"Ino." Redhead – Sakura still hadn't gotten her name – said.

Ino stood up. "What, Karin?" she growled.

"I saw you flip Sasuke-kun the bird."

Ino grinned. "Heh, and?"

"Nobody does that to my Sasu-cakes."

Ino snorted, "Sasu-cakes? What the fuck is Sasu-cakes?"

Karin narrowed her eyes and raised a hand to slap Ino. But before she could do anything, her wrist was caught in an iron grip.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Sakura said dangerously, her hand encircling Karin's wrist.

"And why not?" Karin sneered.

Sakura bent Karin's arm. Karin hissed in pain.

"Because people could get hurt. And it sure as hell won't be Ino," Sakura spoke. She released Karin.  
"Now get the hell out of my sight, you make me feel sick," Sakura growled.

Karin glared at her and turned to flee. "This isn't over, Pinky."

Sakura felt the anger boiling up. She was behind Karin in an instant and grabbed hold of her hair, tugging it painfully.

"Don't ever call me Pinky, ever." She growled again, before letting her go. Karin stumbled forward, before glancing back at Sakura's murderous face, and then turning and running off.

"Woo! Go Saku!" Tenten cheered. Sakura grinned at them and sat back down.

Xxx

"Did you see that?" Neji murmured. His pale eyes surveyed the scene.

"Sakura totally owned Karin!" Naruto punched a fist in the air. "She deserved it!"

"Hn." Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest.

Gaara said nothing. _She is different…_

* * *

Heh… so how was it? I feel like I didn't put enough detail in… sorry! It's late and I really need sleep. Should I keep going or should it be burned and never looked at again?

- Michi-chan


	2. Chapter 2

I'm baaack ;D

Wow. When I posted the first chapter, I expected no one to read it. _' But then I logged on today and people had read it :D

Thank you thank you thank you very much to the people who reviewed and added this story to their alerts! :)

-Michi-Chan

* * *

"Sayonara, Hinata!" Sakura waved to her dark-haired friend as they parted ways on the street.

Sakura walked down the quiet road, taking out her iPod to listen to. She had her bag slung over one shoulder and traveled at a leisurely pace. Her older sister, Mina, wouldn't be home from work until about seven, so she didn't have to rush.

Sakura paused. She furrowed her brows, _what was that noise_?

She took her earphones out of her ears and listened again.

Suddenly a scream pierced the air, followed by yelling. She snapped her head around towards the noise, and took off running. _Someone's in trouble_!

The yells were coming from an alleyway. Sakura slid up against the wall, pressing her back to it, and peeked around the corner.

Someone wearing a black hoodie was currently kicking at the gut of someone on the floor. Sakura gasped quietly.  
Suddenly, on impulse, she leapt around the corner and ran full-bolt at the teenager. He looked up at her, his face shaded by the hoodie.

"What the HELL do you think you're doing?!" she yelled at him. Her elbow jammed into his gut quickly, and he doubled over making a choking noise.

She crouched down next to the boy on the floor. He was wearing her school's uniform, which was currently spattered with blood.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asked gently. The boy rolled over, and Sakura breathed in quickly.

"Oh my god… Lee!" she cried. She whipped her head up to the boy who was currently trying to retreat without her noticing.

"Hey! Hey you!" she yelled. "Hang on a minute, Lee. I'll be back."

Sakura leapt up and ran towards the other boy's back.

"Hey you bastard! Why the hell did you do that to Lee?!" she cried angrily.

"Get lost," the boy said. Sakura did a double-take. _That voice sounds familiar…_

"No, I will not get lost! What did Lee ever do to you?! Huh?" she sped around to face him and brought her fist forward to his face. Not hard enough to break bones, but hard enough to hurt.

The boy's hoodie fell back on impact, revealing bright red hair.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "Oh, hell no."

Red hair. Green eyes. The kanji for love tattooed on his forehead. There was no mistaking who this was.

Rage overtook Sakura, and she slammed her foot into the side of his stomach. He doubled over again, looking up at her. She stood close to him.

"I thought you were nice," she hissed angrily. "Obviously, I was wrong."

And with that she whirled around and retreated to Lee's side, who was now resting against a wall, clutching his broken nose.

"I- I'm so sorry, Sakura-chan. I couldn't protect myself, he came out of nowhere," he said quietly.

"No, no, it's not your fault Lee. C'mon, let's get you to the hospital," she said, sliding an arm around him to keep him steady.

Xxx

Gaara stared at the retreating figures of Lee and Sakura.

_Very different… there is something she isn't telling anyone._

Xxx

Sakura sighed as she opened the front door of her and her sister's apartment. Immediately her sister was in front of her, waving a wooden spoon covered in spaghetti sauce in front of her face.

"Sakura! Where have you been? I came home early to cook dinner for once, and you weren't here!" her sister said. Sakura mentally groaned, _she's going into overprotective sister mode…_

"Chill, Mina, chill. I was walking home, and I saw my friend being beaten up. So I took him to the hospital," Sakura replied as she dumped her bag by the door.

"What? Beaten up?! Did you get hurt Saku?" her sister asked worriedly.

"No, no, I'm fine. Lee got pretty hurt though," Sakura said, smelling the spaghetti coming from the kitchen. She instinctively drifted towards the smell.

"Ooh, Lee, is that your boyfrieeeend?" Mina chuckled.

"No, Mina," Sakura rolled her eyes.

Sakura looked very much like her sister. They both had pink hair, but Mina's was longer. They both had emerald green eyes. They were both fit and really quite beautiful.

"So, um… uncle called," Mina spoke quietly. Sakura froze.

"Yeah… he said that Otousan wants to see us."

Sakura shook her head vigorously. "No!"

"That's what I told him. I said that we were both very busy. It's not uncle's fault. He didn't know what had happened."

Sakura nodded quietly, then swallowed. "I'm… not hungry."

She quickly left the room, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

Xxx

The next few days passed without much disturbance. She would go to school, go home and go to work every couple of days. Sakura and Ino were quickly becoming best friends, Sakura discovered that Hinata was head-over-heels in love with Naruto, but was too shy to say so, Lee was giving her flowers every single day, even though she told him not to worry about it and she was avoiding Gaara. She was pretty sure that he wanted to tell her something, but every time she saw him looking at her she would quickly look away, or engage in conversation with someone else.

"Hello, welcome to the Coral Café, I'm your waiter Sakura. How may I help you?" Sakura smiled at the two old ladies seated at a booth.

"Hello there dearie, can I please have a toffee?" one of them said.

"Umm, you mean a coffee?" Sakura asked, confused.

"Yes, yes that's the one!" the old lady replied. Sakura scribbled that down on her notepad and turned to the other lady. "And you?"

"I can't read your menu, honey," the other old lady said.

"Eh… that's because it's upside down," Sakura noted, trying not to giggle.

"Oh! So it is. You're a very smart young lady. And very pretty too!"

"Yes, yes very pretty!" agreed the other lady.

"Heh… um thankyou. So what would you like?" Sakura asked, feeling her cheeks heat up.

"Oh! Just a tea for me."

"Okay. Have a nice day!" Sakura said, turning and retreating to the kitchen. She clipped the order next to the other ones, straightened her dress (which was black, had the Café's logo on it in red, and a bow tied around the middle. It went three-quarters of the way down her thigh) and went back out. She surveyed the area, looking for someone who hadn't been served, when her eyes landed on a certain redhead.

"Oh, hell no," she breathed out quietly.

"Sakura, c'mon, it's rush hour. Go, serve that guy over there," one of her coworkers said, rushing into the kitchen with an order.

Sakura sighed, defeated. She walked over to the table and put on a sickly sweet smile.

"Hello, welcome to Coral Café, I'm your waiter Sakura-"

"I know who you are," Gaara said, staring up at her.

She narrowed her eyes. "What the hell do you want?"

"Hot chocolate."

"Have a nice day." Sakura scribbled furiously on the paper, whirled around and stormed back to the kitchen and slammed the order next to the others. _He has an attitude problem!_

The bell dinged, and it was the old ladies' orders. She took them and gave them to the ladies.

"Thankyou dearie. Say, what's happening with you and that young man over there? Are you two having a lover's spat?" the lady grinned mischievously.

"What? N-no!" Sakura cried.

"Looked like a lover's spat to me," the other lady commented. "You should go talk to him – sort things out."

"Thanks, but we aren't together. Have a nice day," Sakura smiled and left to put the money in the cashier.

The bell dinged again, and this time it was Gaara's order. She picked it up and put it on his table. "Three bucks and fifty cents. I should get tipped," Sakura muttered as an afterthought.

"And why's that?" Gaara asked her, smirking.

_Oh shit, he heard me. _"Because I'm being so uncharacteristically nice to you."

"Tch. Right." Gaara muttered.

Sakura slammed her palms down onto his table, making a loud BANG! Suddenly everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at her.

"Eh… sorry! I tripped! Heh…" she said, blushing. Everyone turned and began doing what they had previously doing.

Sakura whirled around and glared at Gaara.  
"You know, you look cuter when you're blushing and not glaring," Gaara noted.

_Did he just call me cute? _"What the hell is you're problem?!" she hissed at him.

"Meet me at the park at seven and I'll tell you," Gaara murmured, sipping his hot chocolate and handing her the money.

"Have a nice day," Sakura recited what she told all the customers, then turned and walked back to the cashier.

_Meet him at the park at seven… should I go? Maybe there's more to him than meets the eye…_

_

* * *

_

And there's chapter 2! ^-^

It's not as long as chapter one, and I feel like it's not as good either.. D:

But oh well! :)

- Michi-Chan


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